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Town works to prioritize, price recreation projects

The Town of Whitecourt will soon decide which outdoor recreation projects get priority and how much each one might cost.

Whitecourt Town Council recommended that it adopt the Sportfield Master Plan Phase II during a policies and priorities meeting on Jan. 15. The first phase dealt with identifying community needs, while the second phase addresses costing and project ordering.

"I'm glad we have a plan rather than just going knee-jerk," said Coun. Derek Schlosser, who chaired the meeting.

According to the plan, the top priority is Rotary Park. Specifically, it calls for the relocation of a full-size soccer field, adding several other soccer fields, adding a pathway to access the fields and reconfiguring the current gravel parking lot. The total cost of these projects is estimated at $1,250,000.

The second priority is relocating the natural turf football field and score clock to the upcoming Community Learning Campus near the new École St. Joseph School for $500,000.

The third priority is Graham Acres, which includes adding a medium-size baseball diamond and expanding one existing diamond, for a total cost of $1,212,000.

The final priority—costing $2,850,000—includes adding an additional entrance to Rotary Park and reconfiguring the current roadway. Chelsea Grande, director of community services, explained that this project had been placed at the bottom of the list because it wasn't too pressing.

"It would be something nice because of traffic flow and we get lots of complaints about it, but it's not something that has to be done right away," Grande said.

Chief Administrative Officer Peter Smyl added that the plan wasn't set in stone.

"It depends on money. It depends on priorities. We only have so much cash," Smyl said.

Council had also added a potential skate park expansion to the Master Plan on Nov. 27, 2017. Grande explained that this and other projects not listed as top priorities are currently considered "wants" and not "needs."

Council will decide if it will adopt the second phase of the Sportfield Master Plan during its regular council meeting on Jan. 23, which did not occur before publish time.